1872
Year 1872 (MDCCCLXXII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). Events of 1872 January - June * January 2 - Brigham Young is arrested for polygamy (28 wives). * January 12 - Yohannes IV is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum, the first ruler crowned in that city in over 500 years. * February 20 - In New York City the Metropolitan Museum of Art closes for "urban renovation". * March 1 - Yellowstone National Park is established as the world's first national park. * March 5 **George Westinghouse patents the "failsafe" automatic railway air brake. **The case of Tichborne Claimant decided against the claimant Arthur Orton. * March 11 - Work began erecting Seven Sisters Colliery, South Wales; Located on one of the richest coal sources in Britain. * March 26 - Earthquake at Lone Pine with an estimated magnitude of 7.2. * May 10 - Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States, although she is a year too young to qualify and does not appear on the ballot. * May 22 - Reconstruction: President Ulysses S. Grant signs the Amnesty Act of 1872 into law restoring full civil rights to all but about 500 Confederate sympathizers. * June 14 - Trade unions legalised in Canada. Reference from the Canada Encyclopedia July - December * July 4 - Society of Jesus is pronounced illegal in the German Empire. * September 1 - Group of Icaiche Maya under Marcos Canul attack Orange Walk Town in British Honduras. British send troops against them. * October 1 - The Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College began its first academic session. The university was later renamed Virginia Tech * November 5 **Ulysses S. Grant defeats Horace Greeley in the U.S. presidential election. **Women's suffrage: In defiance of the law, suffragist Susan B. Anthony votes for the first time (on November 18 she was served an arrest warrant and in the subsequent trial she was fined $100 - she never paid the fine). * November 7 - Mary Celeste sets sail from New York, bound for Genoa. * November 9 - Great Boston Fire of 1872: In Boston, a large fire begins to burn on Lincoln Street (the two day event destroyed about 65 acres (0.3 km²) of city, 776 buildings, much of the financial district and caused US$60 million in damage). * November 27 - Meteor shower display over France. * November 29 **Indian Wars: The Modoc War begins with the Battle of Lost River. **November 29 - Horace Greeley, President Grant's opponent in the United States presidential election, dies. His electoral votes are divided among several candidates. *November 30 - First ever international football match takes place at Hamilton Crescent, Scotland; the result is Scotland 0, England 0.Londonhearts.com summary * December 4 - The crewless American ship Mary Celeste is found by the British brig Dei Gratia (the ship was abandoned for 9 days but was only slightly damaged). * December 13 - The Mary Celeste is found off the coast of Portugal completely void of life. * December 21 - HMS Challenger sails from Portsmouth on the 4 year scientific expedition that would lay the foundation for the science of oceanography. Undated * Louis Ducos du Hauron creates the first color photograph. http://www.worldisround.com/articles/2378/photo2.html * London Metropolitan Police strike. * In the aftermath of the War of the Triple Alliance, new government of Paraguay makes peace with Brazil, grant reparations and territorial concessions. * Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition. * Foundation of the Kolozsvári Egyetem, the predecessor of the University of Szeged. * US government geologist Clarence King reveals the diamond hoax in Wyoming. * Thomas Hardy anonymously publishes his romantic novel ..Under the Greenwood Tree... * Virginia Tech is established. Births January - June *January 6 - Alexander Scriabin, Russian composer (d. 1915) *January 23 - Gotse Delchev, Bulgarian revolutionary (d. 1903) *January 31 - Zane Grey, American writer (d. 1939) *February 1 - Jerome F. Donovan, American politician (d. 1949) *March 7 - Piet Mondrian, Dutch painter (d. 1944) *March 24 - J.C. Wienecke, Dutch/German medallist (d. 1945) *April 29 - Harry Payne Whitney, businessman, horse breeder (d. 1930) *May 18 - Bertrand Russell, English philosopher and mathematician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (d. 1970) *May 21 - Henry Warren, Inventor of the first commercially viable electric clock, the Telechron *May 31 **Charles Greeley Abbot, American astrophysicist (d. 1973) **Heath Robinson, British cartoonist and illustrator (d. 1944) *June 20 - George Carpenter, the 5th General of The Salvation Army (d. 1948) *June 27 - Paul Laurence Dunbar, American poet and publisher (d. 1906) July - December *July 1 - Louis Blériot, French aviation pioneer (d. 1936) *July 4 - Calvin Coolidge, President of the United States (d. 1933) *July 16 - Roald Amundsen, Norwegian polar explorer (d. 1928) *August 3 - King Haakon VII of Norway (d. 1957) *August 9 - Archduke Joseph August of Austria, Austrian field marshal (d. 1962) *August 10 - Bill Johnson, American jazz musician (d. 1972) *August 13 - Richard Willstätter, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1942) *August 15 - Sri Aurobindo, Indian nationalist, writer, and mystic (d. 1950) *August 21 - Aubrey Beardsley, British artist (d. 1898) *October 11 - Harlan F. Stone, Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1946) *November 30 - John McCrae, Canadian soldier and poet (d. 1918) *December 21 - Don Lorenzo Perosi, Italian composer (d. 1956) *December 26 - Norman Angell, British politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1967) : See also 1872 births. Deaths January - June * January 7 - Big Jim Fisk, American financier (b. 1834) * January 21 - Franz Grillparzer, Austrian writer (b. 1791) *March/April Mercator Cooper, American sea captain (b.1803) * March 20 - William Wentworth, Australian explorer (b. 1790) * April 1 - Frederick Maurice, English theologian (b. 1805) * April 2 - Samuel Morse, American inventor (b. 1791) * June 4 - Stanisław Moniuszko, Polish composer (b. 1819) * June 4 - Johan Rudolf Thorbecke, Dutch politician (b. 1798) * June 20 - Elie Frédéric Forey, Marshal of France (b. 1804) July - December * July 18 - Benito Juárez, President of Mexico (b. 1806) * August 19 - Charles XV, King of Sweden and Norway (b. 1826) * September 10 - Avram Iancu, Romanian Transylvanian insurgent (b. 1824) * September 13 - Ludwig Feuerbach, German philosopher (b. 1804) * October 23 - Théophile Gautier, French writer (b. 1811) * November 28 - Mary Somerville, British mathematician (b. 1780) * November 29 - Horace Greeley, newspaper editor and presidential candidate (b. 1811) * December 15 - Lady Beaconsfield, wife of Benjamin Disraeli (b. 1792) : See also 1872 deaths. 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